Pitkin Views Representation Of A Sorority Executive Council Essay
1160 Words5 Pages
Professor Uhlaner
Political Science 137BW
November 17, 2016
Paper 4 In her book, Pitkin views representation in four partial views in order to get a better understanding of the overall term. “Acting for” differs from the other views in that it is focused on the substance of representing. Pitkin also brings up the “Mandate-Independence Controversy” which describes the conflict of how representatives should act. The mandate view of representation is where the representative’s choices reflect the views of the represented; he is bound by the instructions from them. Independence view gives the representative more freedom as long as it’s still what is best for the constituents. Both these views offer ways of viewing how a representative should behave. This principle is demonstrated in a sorority executive council. There are different council positions that demonstrate different strategies used to represent the sorority. There is no clear answer to how much freedom a representative should have when acting for the represented. However, the mandate-independence view and Pitkin’s analogies offers a way of viewing this question. Pitkin’s five analogies for explaining substantive representation will be discussed to further explain this concept: actor, trustee, substitute, ambassador, and specialist. Each analogy has its strengths in defining representation and its shortcomings. The first analogy is an actor which acts on the behalf of someone else and is “someone who does the actual